I/HGHT|
encouraged Santos Dumont to aim still higher, and so it
was re-designed, and made its appearance shortly after with
a new and larger envelope (109 ft. by 17 ft., capacity, 19,000
cubic ft.), a 12 h.p. Buchet motor, a built-up triangular-
section keel of pine, piano-wire suspension, a propeller
instead of a tractor screw, and water ballast. In other
respects it followed the same general arrangement as No. 4.
It was with this ship than an attempt was made to win the
Deutsch de la Meurthe prize for a flight round the Eiffel
Tower.
A series of accidents, terminating in the destruction of
No. 5, however, prevented this feat from being-accomplished,
but a few months later the prize was won on No, 6. This
ship was an improved No. 5, having a slightly larger capacity,
but otherwise possessing the same features. After winning
the ^4,000 prize, Santos Dumont took No. 6 to Monaco, where
he made numerous successful ascents over the Mediterranean,
until ballonet trouble brought him down in the sea. In the
meantime No. 7., a " racing " dirigible, was under construc
tion. This had a double envelope, 164 ft. by 26 ft., capacity,
44,500 cubic ft. It was fitted with a 60 h.p. water-cooled
engine, driving a tractor and a propeller screw situated at the
front and rear of the keel respectively. Of the subsequent
dirigibles turned out, perhaps the most interesting was No. 9,
called the " Little Runabout," as it was the smallest one of
the series.
The envelope was egg-shaped, measuring 50 ft. by 18 ft.,
capacity, 7,770 cubic ft. in its original form ; later it was
NOVEMBER 2, 1916.
Before dealing with the twentieth century dirigible—the
real, practical airship—reference may be made to four other
efforts. In 1901 a French inventor named Roze built an
original double airship. It consisted of two cigar-shaped
envelopes placed side by side with a framework between
carrying the engine, the propeller, and the car. In this
way it was supposed that the pitching and rolling of the
airship would be entirely eliminated. The trials of the ship,
however, proved to be a failure. The following year two
experiments, both of which ended in disaster, were made by
Augusto Severo, a Brazilian, and Baron Bradsky-Laboun
respectively. The former's airship consisted of a spindle-
shaped envelope mounted saddle fashion on a large bamboo
frame. At the bottom of this frame, below the envelope, was
formed the car containing two Buchet motors of 12 and 24 h.p.
respectively. The former engine was forward, and drove a
tractor screw mounted on the top of the framework in line
with the central axis of the envelope. The rear motor drove
a propeller similarly mounted. Before the trial took place
other propellers had been fitted on the car, but these, together
with the two ballonets, were dispensed with at the last
moment. An ascent was made from Paris, and about 15
minutes afterwards the expending gas burst the envelope and
the machine fell from a height of about 500 ft., Severo and
his mechanic being killed. The Bradsky airship had a long
cylindrical envelope, in ft. long, by 20 ft. diameter. A
wooden frame was attached to the envelope equatorially
slightly enlarged. The keel, or car, contained a 3 J h.p.
Clement motor, driving a propeller at the rear. It was
extremely easy to manoeuvre, and had a speed of about
12 m.p.h. No. 10 was a larger model of No. 7, and was
cadled the " Omnibus " on account of it carrying several
passengers. Several other airships were also built by
M. Santos Dumont after this, all more or less on the same lines,
but possessing minor improvements.
EI B
Narrow Escapes of the Kaiser.
APPARENTLY twice recently bombs from the air have
narrowly missed putting a period to the Kaiser's life. A
message from Zurich states that a train in which he was
travelling was recently struck by a bomb and the engine-
driver killed. The Berne correspondent of the Corriere
d'ltalia says that a house in which the Kaiser slept during
from nose to stern, and from this frame was suspended the
keel or car, which was made of steel tube, and carried a
16 h.p. Buchet motor in the centre. This motor drove a
propeller mounted at the rear of the keel. Accompanied
by a mechanic the Baron ascended near Paris, but could make
no headway against the wind, and when attempting to land
the mechanic left his position by the engine and so upset
the balance of the airship, causing the car to break away and
dash the occupants to the ground.
Finally, in 1904, an Englishman, Dr. A. Barton, built a
dirigible of comparatively large dimensions, and containing
several interesting features. The envelope was 176 ft. long,
by 43 ft. diameter, and contained the usual ballonets. A
bamboo framework was attached to the envelope by steel
cables. The framework carried two 50 h.p. Buchet motors,
with their crank-shafts lying parallel with the keel, and
transmitted through gearing and belt the drive to four sets
of propellers.
Each set of propellers consisted of three pairs of blades
mounted one behind the other, and situated on each side of
the car, two forward and two aft. The drive also included
large friction clutches, and each engine was under separate
control. The horizontal balance of the airship was attained
by means of water tanks placed fore and aft, water being
transferred from one to the other as required. Elevation
was obtained by means of a series of planes mounted at
intervals along the framework. The Barton airship was
tried at the Alexandra Palace in July, 1905, but did not come
up to expectations owing to its imperfect controlability,
with the result that it drifted away and was destroyed in
landing.
To be continued.)
El El
his recent visit to the Western front was wrecked by a bomb
from a French aeroplane a few minutes after the Kaiser,
the Crown Prince and the Staff had left. It adds that
practically all the Kaiser's personal effects, including several
uniforms, were destroyed, together with a number of impor
tant documents, and some of the Kaiser's servants were
killed.
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